Agree 100% Most of us are coming in fairly antsy. The last thing we need is a lecture while in seated pose. Not only is it physically uncomfortable, it's mentally straining/draining at the beginning of a practice.

@@SaraPaigeYoga seated, standing, or worse (for me, because of knee issues) child’s pose for minutes on end at the beginning of class is not something I enjoy.

@@MusicfromMarrs I feel that! Child’s pose demands deep knee and hip flexion. It’s a big pose. I have healthy knees but it still doesn’t feel great for me. My feet often cramp in child’s pose.

@@SaraPaigeYoga always great to get confirmation from someone who didn’t blow out their knee on a vaulting horse! 😎

Thanks for your thoughts, Blandine. With regards to my usage of "efficiency," I'm discussing the efficiency of communication. There are more efficient ways to communicate complex subjects and there are less efficient ways. I prefer the former. I also don't equate efficiency of communication with the dilution of the content that is being communicated. But, I also think that the depth that we go into a subject depends on the context. There are times for rigorous, detailed, and nuanced conversations about the teachings of the Yoga Tradition. There are also times to simply remember and connect to the simplicity and immediate relevance of some of these teachings. To me, an asana class is the later and that's what I'm discussing here. And, yes, Patanjali does not reflect the totality of the Yoga Tradition. In fact, with his heavy leaning on the Samkhya school which posits a dualist understanding of the cosmos, he's in absolute contrast to the teachings that come out of the Vedas. Plus, his teachings are very different from those of the original schools of Hatha Yoga. Nonetheless, modern students, I think, can glean plenty of wisdom from Patanjali, the Upanishads, the Gita, and, for that matter, other existentialists and modern neuroscientists. The origins of the Yoga Tradition simply isn't settled history. As I'm sure you know, there are strong debates about the earliest origins, especially the linguistics that contributed to the concepts that we now understand as relating to yoga. We do know quite a bit about the early traditions, but the influences on these traditions is still a matter of discussion, debate and inquiry. That's why I don't speak about them in absolutist terms in any context, let alone a drop-in yoga class at 9am on a Saturday.